(CNN) -- In an age when Russian oligarchs and Arab Sheikhs spend billions of dollars on forging the perfect dream team, fan ownership has become a novelty for many of Europe's top soccer clubs. But it is a route that might just be the salvation of struggling Spanish team Real Oviedo, thanks to a social media campaign that has gone viral. Once a top-flight contender with La Liga heavyweights Real Madrid and Barcelona, the 86-year-old club -- based in the northern mining region of Asturias -- has until Saturday to raise €1.9 million ($2.4 million) or face extinction. So far Oviedo has received over €1 million in a period of just nine days -- with €274,000 coming from those who heard about it via Twitter, according to board member Juan Ramon. There is a Twitter hashtag set up -- #saverealoviedo.

After 13 consecutive seasons in
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La Liga, Oviedo dropped to the second division in 2001.


Earlier this month during Holi, the Indian festival of colors, more than three million Twitter followers of the Indian prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi received a personalized greeting from him. Others received celebratory recorded phone messages that concluded with an appeal to vote. In another online campaign, supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were urged to donate a tweet or Facebook status to the newly formed anti-corruption party. Social media has become the new election battleground for India's nationwide parliamentary elections, which started Monday. A bevy of politicians, who, at first sight, seem antiquated and traditional in their flowing kurtas and Gandhi caps are turning to social networking sites to engage Internet-savvy first time voters. Having an official YouTube channel or an active Facebook page is now as important as holding mass rallies and plastering candidates' faces on billboards.

But Modi is not the only one as scores of political parties have turned to Facebook interviews, mobile crowd sourcing, or hashtag wars on
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Twitter.


The number of people employed by the BBC has risen despite repeated promises to cut staffing levels. Official figures have revealed that 22,039 people work at the corporation, an increase of 310 since last year. It has also emerged that headhunters were paid more than £650,000 in 2013 to fill posts across the organisation. Tony Hall ON his first day as Director General of the BBC at New Broadcasting House in central London Yesterday critics branded the staffing rise ‘astonishing’ and the use of headhunters ‘ludicrous’. While the official employment figures – taken as a snapshot a month ago – include employees on permanent, fixed-term and flexible contracts, they do not include casual staff, so the true figure could be even higher.

It was during this period that £150,000 was paid to recruitment consultants to find a replacement for Mr
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Mark Thompson.